


Bridget

by AnnieforSimonsflower



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drama, Explicit Language, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post-Hogwarts, Second War with Voldemort, The Quidditch Pitch: Three of Hearts, Threesome, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-22
Updated: 2008-02-22
Packaged: 2018-10-27 19:53:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10815603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieforSimonsflower/pseuds/AnnieforSimonsflower
Summary: How could Harry function when one-third of himself lay still and cold?





	Bridget

**Author's Note:**

> This story is archived on behalf of Simons_flower, who passed away in 2009, by her designated archivist.
> 
>  **Author's notes:** I wrote Hermione for The Dungeon ([The Dungeon on LJ](http://community.livejournal.com/hptriskelion) and [The Dungeon on GJ](http://community.greatestjournal.com/thedungeon)) for nearly two years.  It’s been continued as [](http://community.livejournal.com/hptriquetra/profile)[**hptriquetra**](http://community.livejournal.com/hptriquetra/), set ten years later.  In rereading old entries, this bunny bit me as viciously as the Monty Python bunny from “Holy Grail” and would not let go.  This is an alternate to [the birth](http://www.greatestjournal.com/community/thedungeon/8498.html) of Harry and Hermione’s daughter, Bridget.  For the record, [](http://satindolls.livejournal.com/profile)[**satindolls**](http://satindolls.livejournal.com/) (Ron) and [](http://madam-minnie.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://madam-minnie.livejournal.com/)**madam_minnie** (Harry) are disgusted with me.  I don’t think you need to have read The Dungeon to understand this, but I’ve included the relevant link in this author’s note.

Harry stood frozen for a long moment that seemed at once a lifetime and a heartbeat long.

Ron grabbed his arm, breaking his paralysis. "Harry, go with Bridget. I'll stay with Hermione."

He briefly watched Ron follow Hermione's gurney before running the other way to catch the mediwitch in control of Bridget's oxygen encasement bubble. The mediwitch mutters spells while a parchment and quill follow her around documenting everything she's doing. When Harry collided with her, she narrowed her eyes at him before screeching that he was unclean.

"Out... out... out! You can not enter this room without proper attire... honestly... do I have to do everything?" She bustled about, pointing her wand at a locker behind Harry to provide him with sterilized robes and a mask. With the assistance of a second mediwitch, he was dressed in seconds.

"You're... you're... do you know who you are?" the second mediwitch asked with a gasp.

"The baby's father?"

"No, you're Harry Potter! I mean... are you?"

"Harry Potter or the baby's father?" Harry asked with an annoyed growl as the other mediwitch disappeared into Bridget's room.

"Harry Potter... I can't believe it! I touched Harry Potter!" the mediwitch mumbles, leading Harry into Bridget's room.

"You'll have to wait out here." She stopped him with a hand on his chest.

He glanced down at it before snarling, "I don't think so," and making his way into the room.

Six mediwitches filled the room. Two tended to Bridget who is still encapsulated in the turtle-shell Dumbledore created to provide pure oxygen to her, but the shell was now in a bassinet rather than floating in mid air. Glowing lines surrounded her, making Harry uneasy.

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked the annoyed mediwitch.

"She will be. It all depends on her, really. Her lungs aren't fully developed, so she'll have to remain on oxygen for a while. That capsule around her, did you do that?"

"No," Harry replied curtly, staring at Bridget. "Dumbledore."

"She's alive because of it. She would've suffocated without it. _Accio_ chart! She will be kept inside it and they are currently providing her with nutrients she would still have in the womb along with a few healing charms for her umbilical cord."

"Did we forget to cut the cord?" he asked, trying to keep his anxiety at bay. He wanted -- _needed_ \-- to do something, but was utterly helpless.

"No, it was removed with a severing charm, but she'll need that to heal."

"Thank you," he murmured.

"You're welcome, Mr Potter. My name is Aurelia if you need anything...."

"Aurelia?"

"Yes, Mr Potter?"

"Harry... and is it okay to hold her?"

She blushed slightly before shaking her head sadly. "I'm afraid not. Soon." Harry nodded, turning back to his daughter. "Mr... err... I mean, Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Is that your family?" Once Harry looked up, she gestured to the group of redheads pressed against the plate-glass window.

"Yes," he murmured. Leaving Bridget, he stepped out and let Molly Weasley wrap him in her arms before he let his tears flow.

The comfort she gave him didn't last long because Ron burst through the doors at the other end of the hallway, pausing for a moment at the sight of nearly all the Weasleys there for support, before crying his news.

"Harry! Now! She's not breathing... no heartbeat... she's dying...." Ron's voice broke with sobs as he turned and ran back towards Hermione's exam room. Harry rushed to follow closely behind.

They burst through the doors just as the Healer said, "I'm going to call it."

Fear and anguish like he'd never known seemed to grip his heart in a tight fist, squeezing the life from him, sucking the breath from him.

"No, you will fucking not call anything!" Ron sobbed, rushing to the bed to kneel beside her.

Harry joined him as he began muttering a prayer, stroking her cheek gently. They each grasped a hand, shocked by how cold her skin was already.

"We love you, Mione," Harry whispered. "Bridget needs you, please come back...."

"Mione..." Ron moaned, laying his head on Hermione's chest. "Don't you dare leave us, Mione. Don't you even think about it."

The Healer whispered a notice that the time of death needed to be noted. In response, Harry shouted, "You will not put a time of death on anything, you fuck!" The Healer stepped back, shock plain on his face.

They clasped hands over Hermione, lacing fingers together and crying. He didn't care about appearing strong or giving a good impression. How could he live without _both_ of them beside him?

There was only the wet drip of blood for several moments in the preternatural silence of the room. Then Ron's renewed sobs broke the bubble, unleashing both his own and Harry's grief.

A mediwitch gently grasped Harry's shoulders in an attempt to pull him away from Hermione's body. He growled and violently shook her off, heartened when Ron did the same to the mediwitch attempting to pull him away.

"Mr Potter, you need to let go," she began softly.

"Leave me the fuck alone!" he shouted, startling even Ron. He met Ron's eyes briefly, then pulled his wand, stood and turned to the arrayed medical personnel. "You will not be pulling either of us away until we're fucking ready."

The mediwitches and Healers stepped back, one startling badly when Harry erected a shield around Ron, Hermione and himself. Ron turned and embraced Harry, each keeping the other upright when all they wanted to do was collapse.

"She left us," Ron whispered in Harry's ear. His grip on Harry was almost painful, but Harry didn't complain. Were their positions reversed, Ron wouldn't complain either. Ron repeated in an even more broken whisper, "She left us."

Harry had the sensation of his heart both beating in his chest and lying broken amidst the blood pooling underneath Hermione. He knew he should do something, _anything_ , but he couldn't move. He tried to remember if he felt this way when Ron handed her the razor two weeks before, but his mind wouldn't focus. One-third of him lay dead and he couldn't function.

"Harry," Ron murmured to gain his attention. When Harry ignored him, focusing instead on Hermione's too-pale body and the horrific stain of red at the juncture of her thighs, Ron gripped Harry's chin and forced Harry to meet his eyes. "Harry, how's Bridget?"

Harry blinked several times, tears of grief rather than abject fear finally welling in his eyes. "Fine... she'll be fine," he rasped, sinking to his knees.

At Harry's renewed sobs, Ron wrapped his arms around him. They clutched each other like desperate survivors of a war. Harry had gained a daughter but he and Ron had lost their wife.


End file.
